Mettiamo in ordine il bagno e la lavanderia

Does “primo piano” mean the ground floor in Italian?

In Italy the floor at street level is the piano terra (“ground floor”), and the floor above it is the primo piano — the “first floor.” For American English speakers that’s a trap: your “first floor” is Italy’s piano terra, and Italy’s primo piano is your second floor. So an apartment al primo piano is one flight up, not at street level. Counting effectively starts from zero.

Italy follows the European system, like British English, where “first floor” already means one level up. Useful related words: piano terra (or piano terreno) for ground level, le scale (“the stairs”), salire / scendere le scale (“go up/down the stairs”), and piano itself, which also means “slowly” or “softly” in other contexts. Getting piano terra right saves you a wrong floor at every Italian building.